What is Contemporary Art?

Contemporary Art pushes artistic, political and geographical boundaries in a manner that is unparalleled in history. With exponential technological advancement, the rise of the Internet and social media, and the so-called “end of history” as a result of accelerated globalisation1, artists are faced with new forms, platforms and demands to meet the needs of the fast-paced, loud-mouthed nature of contemporary culture. The conceptualisation of Contemporary Art isn’t as simple as analysing works made in the present as ‘not all art that is recently produced would call itself or be called by others ‘contemporary’2. Instead, the challenge shifts to determining what Contemporary Art has brought that is different to what preceded it. This essay will not attempt to construct a definitive definition of Contemporary Art, as it is a concept and industry that is continuing to evolve. However, through the ‘interpretative confrontation with individual works’3 and artists, this essay will examine and subsequently divide trends within this artistic period into three categories. The first being the introduction and development of new artistic forms. Examining the work of Nam June Paik (b.1932) and Marina Abramovic (b.1946) this essay will discuss the emergence and expansion of video and digital installation, and performance and conceptual art. The second category is the emergence of new platforms for art. The effects of globalisation, the international art market and social media will be examined in the work of Christoph Büchel (b.1966), and Maurizio Cattelan (b.1960). Finally the demand for Contemporary artists to move into a world of celebrity, business and commercialisation will be explored in the work of Jeff Koons (b.1955). Contemporary Art is a product of the change, global advancement and political turmoil of the contemporary age. Thus it is through an analysis of both artists’ work and context that an understanding of Contemporary Art can be achieved.

When the video-camera became commercially available in the 1960s, Nam June Paik was one of few to foresee the significance it would have on society4. The Korean-born artist, known as the ‘father of video and new media art’5 was fascinated with the potential of commercial videotape6. ‘Neither assemblage nor surrealist’7 Paik invented a new art form; video installation. His work TV Garden, 1974 (Fig.1) consisted of TV sets placed among plants to restructure the relationship between the TV and the audience8, commenting on the ‘microcosmic, technicolour nature of our civilisation in both its glory and its ambivalence’9. The scattered monitors play the same tape of synthesized music, which are purposefully sourced from pre-existing videotapes10. The technique of utilising pre-existing sources has significantly influenced later digital artists. For example, Eva & Franco Mattes, under the pseudonym of ‘0100101110101101.org’ recreate Internet memes and perform digital theft as an expansion of the concepts explored in Paik’s earlier work. As the pioneer of this new type of artwork Paik’s approach to art is an example of the possibilities that technological advancement offered artists of Contemporary Art’s infancy, while also foreshadowing the works of later artists in the digital art sphere. The evolution of the digital age within Contemporary Art acts both as an opportunity for new artistic forms to arise, as well as a discussion regarding ‘the significant role of media and information technologies’11 in our public and personal lives.

In addition to emerging artmaking forms, Contemporary artists are also innovating on exisitng forms, partiularly that of performance art. Contemporary performance art has shifted into an interactive mass media spectacle12, appealing to an age of celebrity culture. The Serbian performance artist Marina Abramovic (b.1946) uses her ‘body as the medium and material of her work.’13 Abramovic emphasizes transgression between the physical and psychological as a means to explore political or psychosomatic subject matter. Her work The Artist Is Present, 2010 (Fig.2) consisted of a table and two chairs at which Abramovic and an audience member would sit and lock eyes. This work operates on multiple oppositional levels. Firstly, the emphasis on the authenticity of the ‘nonprofessional performers’14 attempts to cut through the superficiality of the increasingly commericalised art industry. However, this authenticity was tainted as the performance excited media attention, which ‘heightens the finanical capital of the event’15. Thus, the initial aim to create an ‘experience of being-in-the-world and [feeling of] connectedness’16 is shadowed by the creation of a commerical spectacle as a means of financial benefit. However, it is the marriage of these two opposing concepts that, as Claie Bishop argues, actually enriches the work’s symbolic reading17; examining purity and authenticity within an industry driven by artificial drama. Abramovic’s work is an example of the shift within Contemporary Art to ‘court a wider audience – with a new and distinct relation to the mass media’18. Using interactive, ephemeral performances Abramovic responds to the seemingly superficial luxury of the art world with an attempt to reconnect while conscious and perhaps exploitative of the inescapable entanglement of the media with the art world.

The effects of globalization on the Contemporary Art scene extends beyond mass media and to the emergence of international art markets and art fairs, as well as the artistic representation of global political issues. Although still existing as an ‘elitist enterprise’19 international art fairs create a platform for transnational representation and exploration from geopolitically diverse artists within the parameters of a common world20. One such example is the work Barca Nostra (Our Boat), 2017 (Fig.3) by Swiss-Icelandic artist Christoph Büchel. Exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 2017, this work is the unaltered fishing boat, which sank in the Mediterranean in 2015 killing hundreds of people trying to reach Italy from Libya21. The work generated extreme controversy with critics unsure whether to call it “vile” or “powerful”22, leaving the audience to question whether heightening awareness of the international migrant crisis justifies the artist’s exploitation of a traumatic event. This work is an example of ‘art-fair art’, a term coined by Jack Bankowsky as a ‘mode of performance in which the spectacular and economic context of the art fair is integral to the work’s meaning’23. The combination of the harrowing historical event and the elitist culture of an international art fair reveals the complexity of globalization within Contemporary Art. Similarly, when Chinese artist Ai Weiwei (b.1957) recreated a photograph of a drowned Syrian toddler (Fig.4) mass outrage erupted. When confronted with the ethical issue of exploitative art in an interview with Tania Bruguera, Weiwei responded, “I am an artist, I am not a priest – I don’t give a damn shit about it”24. The international platform for Contemporary artists not only creates complexity in the discussion, representation and ownership of historical and political events, but also highlights the superficiality of the art industry’s ‘rich and priviledged fun’25.

This international platform for artists extends into the digital sphere, with the introduction of social media. With the global accessibility of social media comes consequential pressure for artists, ‘knowing that their careers depend on attracting attention to themselves at any cost,’26 to make work even bolder, scandalous and rambunctious than ever before. This is evident in Maurizio Cattelan’s work The Comedian, 2019 (Fig.5). The work consisted of a banana duct-taped to a wall at the 2019 Miami Beach Art Basel, and sold in three editions for a total of $390,000USD causing it to quickly become a social media craze. The hype and controversy became integral to the artwork’s meaning. To quote Cattelan, “No one should be able to tell if its an artwork or a critical statement... art is a collision of different systems and levels of reality”27. Cattelan shifts away from discrete art objects, focusing instead on ‘their effects in the networks of circulating images’28 in social media, while both exploiting and commenting on the art industry’s excessive financial captial. His work playfully responds to the idea that Contemporary ‘Art can mean just about anything that appears or occurs in an art context’29. Furthermore, The Comedian is an example of a ‘new art’30 which using tactics of public scandal and social media hype, appeals to ‘mass media and a broad audience, but also to the particular concerns of the narrow world of art-buyers and dealers’31. Social media’s ability to ‘monoplise the conversation’32 about art creates a subsequent correlation between what is popular online and what becomes successful in the art industry. Thus, social media spans from being a simple platform to share art, to the subject matter or medium of an artwork, and finally to the determination of a works success. When Damien Hirst (1965) said that his ‘worst fear is to be forgotten or overlooked’33, it can be viewed as a trend among Contemporary artists competing in a new world dominated by social media.

The demand for artists to be more than just a skilled craftsperson is more prevelant than ever. The Contemporary artist must survive ‘within cultures that are predominately visual... driven by image, spectacle, attraction and celebrity on a scale far beyond that with which their predecessors had to deal’34. An artist who has successfully pushed past the average ‘artists’s limited cultural power’35 and been exalted as a ‘celebrity’36, a ‘brand‘37 and the ‘most incisivie commentator of the age’38, is Jeff Koons. In his determination to attain celebrity status Koons placed ‘advertisements of himself in international art magazines’39, fashioning himself as the celebrity that he would soon become. It is this exploitative incorporation of ‘systems other than ‘art’’40 that inform Koons’ success, and amalgamate his art career with his public identity. At the 2008 Koons retrospective at the Palace of Versailles Koons challenges public conceptions of luxury and quality with his work Balloon Dog, 2009 (Fig.6), a gigantic sculpture of a balloon animal exhibited in the Salon d’Hercule. This exhibition of ‘obsolete consumerist ephemera‘41 reflects the ‘emptiness, idolatry and materialism of modern civilization’42. Koons not only has ‘a gift for getting under everyone’s skin’43, but he also embodies the every essence of contemporary society’s obsession with wealth, glamour, consumerism and scandal. His collaboration with Louis Vuitton in their production of a line of luxury handbags (Fig.7) extends the role of the artist to that of the entrepreneur, designer, brand, and celebrity. Whether cynically exploiting the situation or critically commenting on it, Koons’s success exposes the demand for Contemporary artists to extend their work beyond art making, transforming the ‘art world into something you should probably define as something else entirely’45.

Contemporary Art is still evolving. Thus an attempt to construct a definitive definition is futile. This essay has instead sought to attain a holistic understanding of what has emerged and been developed in Contemporary Art that is unique to its time. The introduction of new forms such as digital and video installation seen in the work of Nam June Paik reveals the new modes of artistic expression born from technological advancement. In addition, the development of performance such as Marina Abramovic’s work exhibits the shift towards the trend of interactive exhibition practices. Furthermore, the work of Christoph Büchel at the Venice Biennale not only showcases the ability for Contemporary artists to interact on a global stage but also the complexity that comes with political representation. Similarly, using the art fair’s international platform, Maurizio Cattelan took a step further to create a work that commented on and benefited from the power of social media. Finally the work of Jeff Koons elucidated the demand for artists to expand their role from a craftsperson to a celebrity, entrepreneur, and brand, further questioning the boundaries of art and the artist. Within the Contemporary world, art is no longer limited to a particular unified style, practice, theme, geographical context or political motivation. Instead, Contemporary Art exists as a reaction to the emergence of new forms, platforms and demands for artists and their work.

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1 Cox & Lund, 2016, p.10

2 Osborne, 2013, p.2

3 Osborne, 2013, p.3 4 YouTube, URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RE1ueYnSVc

5 YouTube, URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RE1ueYnSVc

6 YouTube, URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlK1mfLmYto

7 Serwer, 1994, p.91 8 Freed, 1982, p.250 9 Serwer, 1994, p.91 10 Freed, 1982, p.250

11 Cox & Lund, 2016, p.16

12 Smith, 2009, p.248 13 Bishop, 2012, p.95 14 Bishop, 2012, p.102 15 Bishop, 2012, p.103 16 Rosenberg, 2011, p.109 17 Bishop, 2012, p.103 18 Smith, 2009, p.248

19 Smith, 2009, p.246 20 Cox & Lund, 2016, p.13 21 The Art Newspaper, URL: https://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/christoph-buechel 22 Art Net, URL: https://news.artnet.com/art-world/barca-nostra-1548946 23 Bishop, 2012, p.102 24 YouTube, URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MszNiaJy2FE 25 The Art Newspaper, URL: https://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/christoph-buechel

26 Smith, 2009, p.247 27 Spector, 2011, p.40 28 Cox & Lund, 2016, p.25 29 Schjeldahl, 2011, p.1 30 Smith, 2009, p.248 31 Smith, 2009, p.248 32 Art Net, URL: https://news-artnet-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/news.artnet.com/opinion/state-of-the- culture-iv-context-collapse-is-reformatting-the-art-world-1214525/amp-page)

33 YouTube, URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zq7WkSuTcrs 34 Smith, 2009, p.246 35 Rothkopf, 2014, p.16 36 Rosenberg, 2011, p.105 37 Rosenberg, 2011, p.106 38 Rothkopf, 2014, p.15 39 Rosenberg, 2011, p.105 40 Rothkopf, 2014, p.24 41 Rosenberg, 2011, p.106 42 Rosenberg, 2011, p.108 43 Danto in Rosenberg, 2011, p.107

44 Rothkopf, 2014, p.26 45 Art Net, URL: https://news-artnet-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/news.artnet.com/opinion/state-of-the- culture-iv-context-collapse-is-reformatting-the-art-world-1214525/amp-page)

REFERENCES Art Net: Art Net, ‘Absolutely Vile’ or ‘Powerful’? Christoph Buchel’s Migrant Boat is the Most Divisive Work at the Venice Biennale. This site has published an article on the contemporary artist Christoph Buchel by Javier Pes & Naomi Rea regarding his work at the Venice Biennale. URL: https://news.artnet.com/art-world/barca-nostra-1548946 This article discusses the response to Christoph Büchel’s work at the Venice Biennale in 2017. With quotes from celebrities, journalists, art critics and coordinators of the event, this article attempts to portray a diplomatic review of the positive and negative readings of his work. However, the concluding tone reinforces its unethical nature. Art Net: Art Net News, Ruangrupa, the Collective in Charge of the Next Documenta, Reflect on What It Means to Curate in Times of Crisis. This site looks at the Indonesian artistic collective called Ruangrupa within the context of covid-19. URL: https://news-artnet- com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/news.artnet.com/opinion/ruangrupa-the-collective-in-charge-of- the-next-documenta-reflect-on-what-it-means-to-curate-in-times-of-crisis-1878111/amp-page Art Net: Art Net News, State of the Culture, IV: Why the ‘Art World’ as We Know It Is Ending. This site has published an article by Ben Davis regarding the state of the art world today. URL: https://news-artnet-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/news.artnet.com/opinion/state- of-the-culture-iv-context-collapse-is-reformatting-the-art-world-1214525/amp-page Bishop, 2012: Clare Bishop, ‘Delegated Performance: Outsourcing Authenticity’, October, 140, 2012, pp.91-112. Cox & Lund, 2016: Geoff Cox & Jacob Lund, The Contemporary Condition: Introductory Thoughts on Contemporaneity & Contemporary Art, Denmark: Sternberg Press, 2016. This work deconstructs the temporality and geography of Contemporary art. Cox and Lund ask their reader to consider how art operates as a means of understanding wider developments within culture and society. They divide the issue of the ‘contemporary condition’ into three lines of inquiry: temporality, technology and epistemic claims. Freed, 1982: Hermine Freed, ‘Nam June Paik Retrospective’, Art Jounral, 42, no.3, 1982, pp.249-251. MoMA: MoMA Learn, The Artist is Present. This site provides an exhibition review and analysis on Marina Abramovic’s work The Artist is Present from their 2010 performance of the work. URL: https://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/marina-abramovic-marina- abramovic-the-artist-is-present-2010/ Osborne, 2013: Peter Osborne, ‘Introduction’ in Anywhere or Not At All: Philosophy of Contemporary Art, London: Verso, 2013, pp.1-36. Rosenberg, 2011: Capri Rosenberg, ‘Don’t Shoot the Messenger: Jeff Koons and the Aesthetics of Frivolity’, The International Journal of the Humanities, 8, no.11, 2011, pp.105- 110. Rothkopf, 2014: Scott Rothkopf, ‘No Limits’ in Jeff Koons: A Retrospective, New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 2014, pp.15-35. Schjeldahl, 2011: Peter Schjeldahl, ‘Up in the Air: A Maurizio Cattelan retrospective’, The Art World, 2011. Serwer, 1994: Jacquelyn D. Serwer, ‘Nam June Paik: “Technology”’, American Art, 8, no.2, 1994, pp.87-91. Smith, 2009: Terry Smith, ‘What is Contemporary Art’ in What is Contemporary Art?, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009, pp.241-271. This chapter relates to the complex question being answered in this essay. Smith asks his readers to consider the technological, social and global changes within the world and its impact upon the Contemporary Art scene. Smith contemplates the negative impact of the celebrity artist, while also considering the positives of the increasing accessibility of art. Spector, 2011: Nancy Spector, ‘The Aesthetics of Failure’ in Maurizio Cattelan: All, New York: Guggenheim Museum Publications, 2011. The Art Newspaper: The Art Newspaper, Fierce Debate over Christoph Buchel’s Venice Biennale display of a boat that sank with hundreds locked in hull. This site has published an article by Cristina Ruiz about the response to Christoph Buchel’s work at the Venice Biennale. URL: https://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/christoph-buechel The Guardian: The Guardian, NGV Triennial. This site published an article covering the NGV Triennial in 2017. URL: https://www.theguardian.com/australia- news/2017/dec/18/ngv-triennial-astounding-blockbuster-grips-the-heart-and-repels-the- nostrils YouTube: YouTube, Brooklyn Talks: Ai Weiwei and Tania Brugeura. This site posted an interview from the Brooklyn Museum between two political artists. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MszNiaJy2FE This interview with Ai Weiwei led by Tania Bruguera, covers Weiwei’s biography and current projects and his ongoing question for greater global social and political justice. In addition, the practices behind Weiwei’s work are examined, revealing the arguably unethical approach he has to some work, while also considering the significant effects of his art as a catalyst for education and change. YouTube: YouTube, Damien Hirst, 10 Questions, Time Magazine. This site uploaded a video interview by Time Magazine with the YBA Damien Hirst. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zq7WkSuTcrs YouTube: YouTube, Nam June Paik: The Father of Video Art. This site provides a short documentary on the video artist Nam June Paik. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlK1mfLmYto YouTube: YouTube, Nam June Paik – ‘My Crazy Uncle’ | TateShots. This site provides a video produced by the Tate Gallery of life of Nam June Paik. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RE1ueYnSVc In this video from the Tate Gallery the interviewer asks both Paik’s family and art industry professionals to give their insight into the work and life of Nam June Paik. In addition, the video examines particular works with the intention to illustrate how advanced Paik’s use conception of technology was. YouTube: YouTube, 5 Times Artist Nam June Paik Predicted the Future | Tate. This site provides a video produced by the Tate Gallery of the artist Nam June Paik. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMUJB5aFvdo